Moshi Moshi Ami Yumi
Ami Onuki and Yumi Yoshimura lay back on deckchairs outside their tour bus, wearing sunglasses and soaking up the sun’s rays, while their cats say on their laps, purring gently. Tekirai was on Ami’s lap and Jang Keng was on Yumi’s. Ami and Yumi’s manager, Kaz Harada, was inside, sleeping, not at all in the mood to sunbathe. "Ah," Ami said, stretching, "this is the life, eh, Yumi?" "You said it, Ami," Yumi replied, also stretching. "It’s not often that huge rock stars like us get to relax in the sun." "You got that right," Ami remarked, closing her eyes, "but remember when we didn’t have the rock and roll life?" "Yeah," Yumi said. "We were in totally different groups at school. You hung out with the pop-loving girly girls and I hung out with the rock-loving punk boys." ' ' '--------------------------------------------------------------------------------' "So, he was like, ‘But... I love you, Mika,’ while she was like, ‘Ew, get away from me, you freak’, which made him walk away, head hung low!" Chika Suzuki was telling her friends. ' '"Oh, my God! No way! Kenji Tanaka put the moves on you?" Ami Onuki asked her other friend, Mika Yamada, barely restraining a laugh. "You don’t have to broadcast it, you know, Ami," Mika spat bitterly. "Oh, relax," Chika said, smiling. "You’ll get over it soon enough." "He’s a rock punk!" Mika growled, teeth gritted. "I hate rock punks!" Ami was silent. Secretly, she had a deep passion for rock that far exceeded Chika and Mika’s passions for shopping. It had started when she was very young. Her father (a great lover of rock and roll) introduced her to the music. Her mother (a pristine girly girl) had frowned upon it instantly. She wanted Ami to be just like her, but, sadly for her, Ami obsessed over rock from that day on. ''' '''Chika and Mika had no idea that she was a very skilled player of the drums and guitar. She just wanted to live out her passion and be free, but she knew, deep in her heart, that her friends would never accept her for who she really was, so, day in, day out, she would lie about loving pop music when, truthfully, she hated it. ' ' ' ' '--------------------------------------------------------------------------------' ' ' "No way! You didn’t?" Yumi Yoshimura asked, laughing. "Yeah, I did," Kenji Tanaka replied, eyes downcast. "What did she say?" Satoshi Saito asked. "She called me a freak," Kenji replied. "She doesn’t like me at all." "Oh, don’t worry about it," Yumi reassured. "There are plenty more girls in the school for you to pick from." "Like who?" Kenji asked. "Mika Yamada was the only girl I’ve ever liked." "What about Ami Onuki?" Satoshi suggested. "She’s pretty cute." "Not as cute as Mika," Kenji muttered. Satoshi and Yumi both rolled their eyes. "Hey," Satoshi said, "at least you’ve still got rock and roll." "Yeah, you’re right," Kenji replied. "It is, after all, the best music ever. It’s all I’ve ever known and it keeps me happy through the bad times." "There you go," Satoshi said, smiling. "It’s all we’ve ever known too." Yumi was silent. Truthfully, although she had as deep a passion as possible for rock, she’d grown up with opera. She’d been told by Madame Blubbery (an opera teacher) from the day she was born what a perfect opera singer she’d make. ''' '''Her parents loved the idea, so Madame Blubbery strived to make her "hit the Z sharp over high C", the highest note known to man. Yumi detested opera, however, so Madame Blubbery invented a special whistle to control her. It was her dream and not Yumi’s to hit that high note, so one day, fed up with being treated like a puppet, Yumi stormed out and never returned. It was rock she loved, so she put her heart and soul into learning to play the drums and guitar, which she had become very talented at. ' ' ' ' '--------------------------------------------------------------------------------' ' ' "Awesome!" Ami Onuki exclaimed, reading a poster on the wall. "What?" Chika Suzuki asked. "The Spanish club?" Mika Yamada asked, reading the wrong poster. "No, the talent contest!" Ami cried out, jumping up and down. "I want to enter the talent contest tonight at seven o’ clock!" "That’s a great idea!" Chika said. "The three of us can enter it together!" "Yeah," Mika agreed, "we can do our version of our favourite Princess Rainbow song, Sunshine and Butterflies!" "Yeah!" Chika cheered, almost making Ami gag. ''' '''I am not singing that! she thought, watching her best friends hug each other tightly. It’s the most revolting song in the world "You know, guys," Ami said slowly, "I was... thinking of going solo on this one... if it’s okay with you." "Oh..." Mika replied, "okay... I suppose." "I’m sorry," Ami muttered, "but it’s about time I showed you what I can really do." "Fine," Chika snapped, "but me and Mika are going to do it together and win!" ' ' ' ' '--------------------------------------------------------------------------------' ' ' "Cool!" Yumi exclaimed. "A talent contest tonight at seven o’ clock!" "You should so have a go at that!" Kenji said enthusiastically. "Yeah," Satoshi agreed, "bring your electric guitar and rock the house!" "Oh, don’t worry, I will," Yumi replied, winking, "but it’s a shame you two can’t play any instruments... we’d have made a great band." "Oh well," Kenji said. "You can and that’s all that counts!" ' ' ' ' '--------------------------------------------------------------------------------' ' ' "Ladies and gentlemen... The Rainbow Princesses, Chika Suzuki and Mika Yamada!" the school principal cried out. Claps echoed around the room as the two of them bowed their way off-stage, where, coming across Ami Onuki, they smirked. "You don’t stand a chance, Onuki," Chika sneered. "Yeah," Mika agreed, also sneering. "Our song and dance blew the crowd away." "I’m not surprised," Ami sneered back, "since it was so bad." Glaring at her, Chika and Mika stalked off, calling back something about how badly they were going to cream her in the contest. Ami felt herself shaking badly, but not because of her "friends". This was the day that everyone would find out her secret... and she was next! She picked up her electric guitar, situated it across her chest and nervously tapped her fingers on it. "Now, everyone, please put your hands together for your next act, Ami Onuki!" As the principal made his way off-stage, Ami could hear clapping. Biting her bottom lip and taking a large gulp, she walked out. As soon as she was spotted with an electric guitar, a deathly hush arose, which just made her want the ground to swallow her up. She could feel the heat rise in her face. Come, on, Ami-chan! she thought desperately, positioning her fingers on the strings. You know you’re good! You can do this! Finally, she started to play, while the crowd stayed silent. It was a soft rock tune she’d been practicing for months and she was pretty good at it. She even sang along to it, which made it sound twice as melodic and soothing. When she finished, the crowd went wild, screaming her name. Ami looked backstage and saw, to her delight, that Mika and Chika were gawking at her with their mouths hanging open, obviously shocked speechless. ' '"Ladies and gentlemen... Ami Onuki!" the principal cried out. As Ami moved backstage, bowing as she left, Yumi Yoshimura (a girl she’d never spoken to before) came up to her, pushing her way past Chika and Mika, who, after shooting her filthy looks, stalked off again. "Did you do that?" she asked in astonishment. "Do what?" Ami asked. "Play a rock song?" "Yeah," Yumi replied, "and sing." "Yeah, I did," Ami said, giggling. "I’m quite a good singer with a knack for the guitar and drums." "Wait a minute," Yumi said, holding up a hand, "you play drums too?" "Yeah, why do you sound so surprised?" Ami asked. "I thought a girl like you would be into pop music," Yumi confessed, "because I can play guitar and drums and I’m a punky tomboy." "Wow, you can?" Ami asked. "Yeah," Yumi replied, smirking, "and you know what, Ami? You’re pretty cool." "Thanks," Ami said, giggling again. "Now, everyone, please put your hands together for your next act, Yumi Yoshimura!" the principal cried out. Walking on-stage with her electric guitar situated across her chest, Yumi waved to Ami, who, in turn, waved back. Then, once on stage, she started rocking so hard and head-bobbing, it caused Ami to grin. This was the kind of music she loved. Suddenly, Yumi started to sing to her hard rock song, making it sound twice as catchy and rhythmic. Finally, after her fingers struck the last chord, the crowd cheered as loud as they had cheered for Ami. "Ladies and gentlemen... Yumi Yoshimura!" the principal cried out. When Yumi went backstage, Ami gave her a big hug. "You were great!" she cried out. "The crowd loved you!" "Hey," Yumi said, "the crowd loved you just as much." "It’s going to be a very close call to make between us," Ami admitted, "but, if one of us beats the other, will we still be friends?" "You know we will, girl," Yumi stated, winking, "because we’re both rockers!" ' ' ' ' '--------------------------------------------------------------------------------' ' ' "And now, ladies and gentlemen," the principal announced, "the moment you’ve all been waiting for! It’s time to announce the winning performance of the talent contest!" All where silent as he opened a golden envelope and pulled out a golden piece of paper. Unfolding it, he smiled and grabbed his microphone to reveal what was written. "Ami Onuki and Yumi Yoshimura!" he shouted, making the whole audience scream, clap, whistle and cheer, while Ami and Yumi looked at one another in confusion. "Wait a second," Yumi snapped, making everyone go quiet. "Ami and I are both solo acts. Isn’t there only supposed to be one winning performance?" "Not exactly," a dwarf-sized, bald man from the crowd said. "Who are you?" Ami asked. "My name is Kaz Harada," he replied. "I am to be the manager of the winning group/solo act of the talent contest (if they proved to be good enough for that, of course), but, since no one could decide between the two of you, I agreed to manage both of you as one band." "Wow!" Ami cried out, jumping up and down. "I can’t believe it!" "You mean... we get a new career in rock music... together?" Yumi asked. "You bet," Kaz replied. "The prize wasn’t mentioned on the posters because it was meant to be a surprise. Plus, if everyone knew that the prize was a job in the music business, everyone would enter. We managed to minimise our choices." "Awesome!" Yumi cried out, leaping up and punching the air. "This is so cool!" "Yeah," Ami agreed, "we’re going to be rock stars the world over... together!" "What shall we call the band?" Yumi asked. "The Super Rockers? Rock Mania? Girls Rock? Punky Chicks?" "Hmm..." Ami said, thinking hard. "I was thinking of something a little less rough..." "Um..." Yumi said, also thinking hard. "Come on, girls, hurry up," Kaz complained, tapping his foot impatiently. "I’ve got a band to promote! Plus, if you have pets, they’ll no doubt be coming too! Meaning we’d need to make room for them and..." He slapped a hand to his head. Great... he just had to mention that, didn’t he? Ami gasped. "We can bring our pets?" she squealed enthusiastically. "Then I’m bringing Tekirai, my beautiful white female cat with fluffy, puffy fur!" "And I’ll bring Jang Keng," Yumi added, "my cool black male cat with straight fur." "Fine..." Kaz said, irritated, pullimg out a pad and pencil and making notes, "that’s two cats I need to make room for: Ami’s puffy cat and Yumi’s... non-puffy cat." "Wait a minute..." Ami said slowly, "Ami... puffy... Yumi... That’s it!" "What’s it?" Yumi asked, confused. "Puffy Ami Yumi!" Ami yelled, waving her hands around energetically. "We can call the band Puffy Ami Yumi!" "Uh, yeah... I quite like that," Yumi replied, smiling. "It’s not too rough for you and it’s not too soft for me." "Exactly," Ami agreed. "Look out world!" Yumi said, triumphantly punching a fist in the air. "Puffy Ami Yumi’s comin’ to town!" ' ' '--------------------------------------------------------------------------------' "Girls!" Kaz Harada called out of the tour bus window. "Time to go! You have a gig at the Multiplex Stadium in half an hour!" "All right, all right, sheesh!" Yumi Yoshimura replied, sitting up and stoking the fur of her black cat. "Isn’t Kaz annoying, Jang Keng?" "Meow," Jang Keng replied, rolling his eyes. Meanwhile, Ami Onuki was stroking the fur of her white cat, while trying to sit up. "It’s a shame we have to get back on the road so soon, isn’t it, Tekirai?" she said. "Meow," Tekirai replied, bowing her head. "Come on!" Kaz cried out. "Time is money! If you’re wasting time, you’re wasting money and I can’t have that!" "For crying out loud, Kaz, we’re coming!" both girls shouted back, annoyed that their ‘vacation’ couldn’t have been longer. They both climbed into the tour bus, carrying their cats, who both gave Kaz dirty looks before smirking at each other and slapping paws. Oh, he was going to pay for this... big time.